There’s been a fair bit of discussion on the interweb (internet is a different thing and world wide web is too long to say) about Thor’s appearance in Avengers: Endgame. Namely, the directors are being called out about fat shaming.

First off. I don’t believe the Russo’s would use weight gain strictly as comic relief since they deftly handled the abuse Bucky Barnes received at the hands of HYDRA and they gave us that pin-drop reveal from Steve Rogers to Tony Stark in Civil War. They also gave us a fully realised Thanos. Yes, it’s funny to see Thor much more relaxed, physically but let’s consider how he got there.

Thor, at his core, is arrogant, ignorant and has quite a superiority complex which he uses to distract from what’s happened around him. He believes he’s entitled to victory and that his presence alone ensures it regardless of his enemy. This is the Thor we meet in his first outing. A carefree young man with all the machismo, bravado and over-confidence of a teenager who thinks they can wage a war because they’ve put over four hundred hours into Call of Duty. This Thor hasn’t been tested. This Thor had little to lose or fight for. He just loved showing off in front of his friends. Hammer first, talk maybe was the attitude. But that was to change. After being denied the throne and seeking revenge against the Frost Giants, Thor was bailed out then banished by the Allfather to Midgard for his stupidity. Odin hoped he’d learn his lesson. On Midgard, Thor was weak, relatively speaking, after being stripped of his powers and hammer, Mjolnir.

Whilst on Earth, he was found and taken care of by three scientists. One of whom was his love interest to be, Jane Foster. During this time, he was shown patience, kindness and understanding. Despite a fruitless attempt to regain Mjolnir, he was taught a valuable lesson. Humility. Thor was measured and found wanting. At that point, you could say the seeds of depression started to sink in. The banishment by his father started to hit home. You’ll notice that Thor isn’t so cocky after that point.

But once he’s put his life on the line and his brother Loki (standing in as king whilst Odin is in a coma) forgives him albeit not without sending a sucker punch, Thor regains his worthiness and he gets his powers, armour and hammer back. He’s no slouch in putting on a mighty show to display who really is. Or who he likes to think he is. After defeating the Destroyer, Jane Foster shows how damned impressed she is. So impressed it seems, she’d want front row seats of every battle forthwith.

With his quest complete, Thor returns to Asgard to beat the living daylights out of Loki. In the battle, Thor breaks the bridge to the Bifrost where Loki falls into the void of space. Neither he nor Odin was able to save him.

In the first film, Thor was rejected by his father, accepted by a group of strangers then experienced the loss of his adopted brother. Did we see Thor grieve? Did we see him deal with any of what he’d just experienced? He expressed anger and something resembling disappointment but I wouldn’t say we really saw him grieve over Loki. And Jane? Well, he busted the only means he could see her. Even Loki pointed that out but Thor kept on doing what he set out to do. If Jane had really mattered to Thor, he would have found another way to stop the Bifrost. If he had, Loki wouldn’t have fallen into space and found the Chitauri and/or Thanos and we wouldn’t have had the events of The Avengers. Nick Fury was right to point the blame at Thor for being the reason SHIELD wanted to use the Tesseract to make weapons, even if he had only half the information.

Moving on to the Avengers and we saw a different Thor. It seemed he’d matured and grown from what went on. But did he? Did he really? When he dragged Loki from the Quinjet in his introduction was he doing that because he wanted to find his brother or was he under Odin’s orders? We never found out but I suspect the latter. He didn’t show himself to be in desperation then relief once Loki was found. He demanded answers. And rightfully so. Loki was trying to start an invasion, after all.

Later on we see Thor feeling the stress. That moment where he was dropped by Loki from the helicarrier where he looks at his hand when trying to summon Mjolnir. He looks like he’s questioning himself. His immortality? His power? His alleged godhood, perhaps? We’re not sure but it is clear he’s being tested.

As the Battle of New York waged on, we get another moment where Thor and Captain America are duking it out on the ground. Both look weary but Thor really shouldn’t be. He’s arguably the strongest so why the fatigue? He’s adapting to the new situation. He can’t go in all guns blazing like he did on Jotunheim. He must be reserved and tactical. He has innocent lives to think of. Captain America is used to that but then, he’s all about saving lives. Thor, at that point, was all about victory and vengeance. Perhaps he was getting frustrated. He certainly didn’t look impressed carrying out orders from a lesser being and he didn’t look impressed with the victory either. But it wasn’t really a victory. It was almost a defeat. The Avengers won by the skin of their teeth and they knew it. The only team players were also the weakest, physically. The powerhouses were the problem. In fact, you could argue that Iron Man and Hulk did the heavy lifting given both are fairly practical and their respective professions demand they get the job done. Even Hawkeye got a good shot at Loki! And Thor? He was busy being thrown from the helicarrier whilst Iron Man was trying to save said helicarrier from falling out of the sky. A mortal man stuck himself in an engine whilst a literal God allowed himself to be fooled by his brother. He allowed himself to be stabbed as well when he should have fired a heap of lighting at Loki. Iron Man didn’t hesitate to open fire and we all know Hulk didn’t. Did Thor learn anything from this experience? Didn’t look like it.

As we move to Thor: The Dark World the opening shot of him is displaying his bravado once again. The hammer flew and the enemies fell. He showed no gratitude when Sif saved him from being struck by an arrow. He even managed to joke and smile as he reigned down destruction and death. You could say Thor went back to liking it easy. Where was the challenge on Vanaheim? Everything was dialled back so Thor could be the hero once again.

When it came to love, Odin advised he look to Sif rather than Jane Foster. But he chooses Jane. My reckoning on this choice is that Jane is easy to impress and eager to impress her would-be beau. She presents no challenge and offers herself freely as his trophy. Sif, on the other hand, presents a challenge. She knows Thor. She’s strong in battle and takes no prisoners. Thor can’t hide behind anything from Sif. So, he ignores her because his fragile ego couldn’t handle being with her. He’d have to work for her affections. She’d challenge him in ways he’d grow tired of quickly. In short, he’d have to be responsible. And Thor doesn’t do responsible. Thor does stories of victory. Thor saves the day. Thor…likes to drink with his friends.  With Jane, he can be flash and sexy. Sif, on the other hand, would tell him how many mistakes he’d made and how to do better in the next battle. Which would mean no nookie and Thor likes a bit of nookie.

Even when he reunites with Jane, he gets away with not having visited. Surely, he could have popped over after New York? Loki wasn’t really going anywhere and the World Security Council wanted him as a prisoner anyway. But he just up and left. His punishment? Two slaps and only one was because he didn’t visit. His reason wasn’t even a full explanation. The guy had been gone for months and didn’t have the decency to really give all the details to Jane. Not that it mattered since all he had to do to get her to stop questioning him was talk about fate bringing them together and she goes and gets all doe-eyed whilst her IQ drops about a hundred points briefly.  See. No challenge.

Shortly after, he’s impressing her again with a trip to Asgard only to be regarded as unimpressive. The healers don’t seem keen to heal her and Odin calls her a goat.

But by ignoring the express command of his father and king, Thor put Asgard in jeopardy. The Dark Elves attacked because Jane had the Aether within her. Had he listened to his father, Jane would have been on Earth. And Jane may not have encountered the Aether if she wasn’t looking for Thor and she wouldn’t have gone looking for him if he hadn’t led her on in the first film. His arrogance potentially led to Jane becoming host to the Aether but it certainly led to the Dark Elves attacking Asgard which resulted in the death of his mother, Frigga. Even after that, he still saw fit to question his father’s actions. The pretender to the throne was no match for the real king.

Odin, on the other hand, has become weary from rule. That’s the price of responsibility. It takes a toll. Look at Barack Obama before and after his presidency. Thor knows nothing of it yet thinks he’s entitled to question it. I would say that Odin must have felt somewhat disappointed that his son wasn’t up to muster. Plenty of show but no real substance. A king that does not make.

And Thor goes on to defy his father again by embroiling his friends to commit treason which also involves breaking Loki from prison so he can take Thor and Jane to the Dark Elf homeworld! Logic would dictate Jane be kept safe on Asgard. As king, Odin must be and is prepared to lose as many soldiers as necessary to defeat his enemy and protect his kingdom.  He’ll do whatever it takes. Thor will not. Thor endangers his alleged love in a heinously idiotic act that gives the enemy the home advantage. He allows Malekith to take the Aether from Jane and in doing so makes her even more vulnerable.

And who saved the day? Who ultimately stopped Malekith from using the Aether to take advantage of the Convergence to plunge the Nine Realms into eternal darkness? Jane! The equipment she’d been using to try and find Thor was used to take out Malekith. In doing so, Thor was happy to endanger the lives of the other eight realms but not his own? Asgard know the Dark Elves and had fought and defeated them. It would make sense to keep the battle contained especially since the battlefield is hosted by a well informed and well trained army where the king is a God of War. But Thor’s vain attempt to protect Jane endangered every other realm and saw a chunk of Greenwich destroyed. Hardly the actions of a person with their head screwed on right. But hey, it didn’t matter because he got to make out with his mortal plaything after being tricked by Loki (again!) and refusing the throne.

In Age of Ultron, not much happened with the illustrious God of Thunder. He seemed to mainly be a plot device, provide some brawn, give birth to Vision and let his Avenger chums play with his hammer. Do excuse yourselves if your mind went to the gutter.

It is a problem though. Each instance we see Thor, he just hasn’t learned or allowed himself to feel anything he’s gone through. Has he genuinely experienced the events or is he treating them all as part of some game? He didn’t shed a tear at his mother’s funeral. He barely expressed any emotion. Perhaps Thor is more of a metaphor for traditional masculinity in that he’s either horny, happy or angry. In the context of the films, that would ring true. He is a prince and, as such, is under emotional restrictions.

It’s not until Ragnarok that we see a good chunk of the veneer of arrogance start to come away. The opening scene is the familiar hammer swinging dance of death which Thor relishes in with abandon. He gets back home, finds Loki has taken his father’s place and goes off to find him. After a brief chat with Doctor Strange, the brothers are in Norway when Odin has his final conversation with his sons then passes. Still, we get nothing from Thor. It looks like he’s about to get angry about something then proceeds to blame Loki for the death of their father. Absolutely no discussion takes place on the revelation that they have a sister who their father imprisoned. That information alone should be enough for some kind of strong emotional response. But the audience is given nothing but a few sparkles which are directed at Loki perhaps wrongfully.

With his hammer destroyed by his newly introduced sister, Hela, Thor finds himself on Sakaar where he becomes prisoner to Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. Even when restrained, Thor insists on a vain and futile display of might which the Grandmaster treats as just that. Vain and futile. And a bit amusing.

The first point in the entire Thor and Avengers series where Thor shows any real sign of emotion is when he’s getting his hair chopped off. He looks like he’s in real despair when Stan Lee’s barber heads for him with his, admittedly, rather deathly looking contraption. The Son of Odin was genuinely worried and even pleaded his locks be kept in tact. I know this was played for laughs but it’s also an interesting character point that his hair meant more to him than the loss of his mother.

So, he can unnecessarily puts his girlfriend in danger but absolutely no harm must come to his hair? Priorities. Which reminds me. He did warn Doctor Strange about the hair even though his hair was needed for him to be sent to his father.

If we assume the long flowing locks equate to Thor’s vanity then it should have mostly gone once he entered the ring with the Hulk. And that assumption seems mostly accurate. No hammer so Thor believes he has no power and no hair means he doesn’t have to worry about looking good in battle. What we see in the arena is a stripped down and focused Thor. He doesn’t know he’s fighting Hulk yet but even so, he’s thinking strategy. His eyes narrow as he awaits for what’s about to come out. He prepares himself for battle. Like a soldier. Like a warrior. In that arena, he is no god and he now knows and accepts it.

In the fight, Thor isn’t showy or flashy. He’s practical and tactical. He wants to win but he doesn’t want to kill his friend and he certainly doesn’t want to be killed by him. Against the Hulk, Thor can’t afford to be dramatic or over the top. Showing off would only make Hulk angrier.

On the brink of defeat and death, Thor taps into his real power. It’s this moment where the crowd see who he really is and he is adored for it. Thor himself is quick to realise that this is who he is. But interestingly, rather than show his friend mercy, he decides to go for Hulk and take revenge now he has the upper hand. Hardly the actions of a benevolent person, wouldn’t you say? Thor wants to show he’s a threat and wants to remind Hulk that he is the strongest Avenger.

Even though he technically won, Thor was cheated by the Grandmaster and Hulk was allowed to win. This didn’t bother him. He was alive. From this, we can take that Thor was alright not being the favourite….possibly.

After the fight, Thor is locked in Hulk’s quarters and here we see the Asgardian take a leaf out of Loki’s book. Manipulation. He tries to convince Hulk to break him out and one of his attempts of persuasion? He tells Hulk he doesn’t like Banner. He comfortably says this in order to achieve his goal. Ultimately, it fails and Hulk outwits Thor in a rather hilarious moment of karma. Hulk may not be smart but he’s certainly not stupid and he’s happy to point that out.

He tries to convince Valkyrie through some talk of nostalgic legend but really, this was another manipulation to free himself. Valkyrie was’t buying his story anyway but Hulk was convinced that Thor was his friend. A shame for Hulk that as soon as Thor was free, he jumped right out of a window to save himself. Yes, he explained he needed to save Asgard and stop Ragnarok but manipulating the very people you want help from only makes you untrustworthy. It makes Thor Loki.

When Banner returns, we see Thor’s insecurities shine through. He questions the computer’s statement of Banner being the strongest Avenger and sees fit to correct the giant holographic Grandmaster that he’s the God of Thunder, not Lord. Banner is going into shock but Thor can’t have that. Thor must manipulate Banner so he can have the Hulk available later. Thor is dismissive of Banner’s problems because he doesn’t consider them his problem. His only goal is Hulk. A genuine person let alone a God or a Would-Be King would take just a few minutes to use the relative safety of the Quinjet to explain the situation to Banner and ensure he’s comfortable. Thor needed to let Banner talk things out and he needed to help Banner work things out. From what we’ve seen of the character, this isn’t something he’s equipped to do so he wants Banner to ignore what’s happening to him because Thor can’t deal with Banner.

Banner knows this because Banner knows who he is and what he needs to settle himself. And Banner, rightfully, calls Thor out on another attempt at manipulation.

Ultimately, it looks like the only reason Banner and Valkyrie join Thor isn’t because of the man himself. Valkyrie, as a former member of Odin’s premier fighting force, still holds some semblance of loyalty to her fallen king whom she did have respect for. But mainly she wants revenge against Hela and sees Thor as a means to achieve that. Also, she may fancy him a bit in a childish sort of way. She thinks he’s cute and funny but nothing serious.  Banner wants to get back to Earth and Natasha and so sees Thor as a way out. Karma. At least now the manipulation is on equal terms.

A real point of growth is in the humiliation and foresight of Loki. Granted, humiliation isn’t really an acceptable form of growth but one step at a time. There are many layers or arrogant lacquer to get through. Thor must display his overcoming of Loki’s endless betrayal and the ‘Get Help’ distraction works nicely to Thor’s advantage. He gets to show his physical superiority over his brother which should serve as a reminder that whilst arrogant, Thor isn’t a bully. He could have easily bullied Loki when they were younger but didn’t such is the level of decency and fairness at his core.

The final battle against his sister shows Thor’s main weakness. He’s unsure of himself. Going up against his older sister, who’s age, clear motives and greater experience give her the advantage. She knows what she wants and has a plan for getting it. Thor, on the other hand, turns up and hopes to punch his way out as he has done every…other…time. The plan is simple and, arguably, idiotic. He knows nothing of Hela’s powers therefore has no strategy with which to fight. He arrogantly assumes he’ll win.

Fortunately, the script allows Thor to win but in a way where he has to make the choice of a king. His sister is far too powerful to be defeated by the combined forces of Thor, Loki and Valkyrie so he makes a difficult choice. He opts to sacrifice his homeworld for the good of his people. Such a sacrifice is a difficult burden to bear but Thor has no other option. Surtur had to be resurrected to enable Ragnarok thus defeating Hela.

With his homeworld gone, Thor had to set about finding a new place for his people to settle. The mission was about to start but then Thanos showed up in his monstrously sized vessel.

We never saw what happened between the end of Ragnarok and the start of Infinity War. All we were allowed to see was Thor beaten. Did his arrogance kick in again where he put his people at risk to show how mighty and powerful he is? Possibly, but we’ll never know.

The issue with Infinity War was that it was a real chance for Thor to show some real growth. Then he didn’t. Yes, we saw him grieve over Heimdall but he arrogantly vowed revenge from a position of weakness.

With his mouth shut by Ebony Maw, all Thor could do was watch helplessly as the final member of his family is murdered in front of him. He mourns the loss of his brother but no further vows of vengeance. Perhaps, Thor realised that Thanos was a very different opponent having watched him easily defeat Hulk, kill Heimdall and snap Loki’s neck like a twig. Maybe Thor thought this was one enemy he couldn’t defeat.

And then that arrogance stepped in again.

After being saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor quickly constructs a plan to kill Thanos. And, like his other plans, it’s simple and idiotic. Once again, he thinks he can solve his problems with a new weapon. He didn’t learn from his father in Ragnarok that Mjolnir wasn’t where his power came from. Thor is the power yet he chooses not to wield  it. His mentality is wrong and this is why he fails so frequently. He believes the forging of Stormbreaker will give his mojo back but it didn’t. How can he regain what he never had to start with? Both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker are items Thor associates with power rather than himself. Going back to the first Thor film, Odin even declared Mjolnir a ‘tool to build or a weapon to destroy’. What Mjolnir does is entirely up to the wielder yet Thor treats it like an ally. We can almost hear the thought run through his mind – ‘Just you wait until my hammer gets here.’

It could be argued that, yes, Odin did fail his son. Rather than have him believe that power was granted through Mjolnir, Odin should have empowered his son and told him he had the power within much earlier. It’s like telling a child they only won a race because they were wearing running shoes whilst everyone else had slippers on. Not that the child was legitimately the fastest regardless of footwear. It sends the wrong message. Even the enchantment on Mjolnir suggests the power resides within the hammer and those who are worthy may wield it. It diminshes Thor immensely. Is he only Thor because of Mjolnir? Then, who is he without it? Such misinformation would have had a profound impact on Thor as a person and may well be the source of his lack of real confidence and assurance.

If we compare Thor to his three main counterparts, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, both are very much the embodiment of their superhero personas. Bruce was already a brilliant scientist who knew his abilities well before his accident. And because he knew who he was, he was able to manage the Hulk rather than be lost to him.

Tony is creative engineer and inventor and Steve Rogers has a very clear moral compass. All three knew who they were before they had any abilities or suits of armour. They don’t define who they are rather they enhance and project but, with Thor, it seems he’s defined by his hammer. Without it, he’s really not much. Just a spoilt brat who wanders around with a sense of entitlement but with no accomplishments to back up his arrogance. Tony earned his arrogance because he has heaps of evidence. Steve earned his place as leader because he’ll always make the good call, if not the right one, even if it means going against orders. And Bruce? He’ll always reason with people because he’s constantly reasoning with the Hulk but, as a scientist, he must present clear and logical reasoning in his work for it to be successful.

Thor, on the other hand, has none of that. He’s a Son of Odin and Prince of Asgard. Not a Defender of the Realm, Keeper of the Peace or Advisor to the King. He has no position or training to fall back on.  Just a title. And a hammer.

Ultimately, the journey to Nidavellir should have been pointless. Thor has innate power, so why not use it? The simple answer is, he would have to teach himself which would require learning about himself first in order to figure out what he and his power are capable of. For the sake of convenience and time, getting Stormbreaker made was a lot easier as it didn’t take years of practice and skill to make. It just needed one dwarf with those years of practice and skill and one God driven enough to get it done.

And when it was done, what did he do? He let that arrogance come through again, didn’t he? That fatal mistake of going for the chest rather than the head or arm allowed Thanos to complete his mission. And all because Thor wanted to bask in his moment of glory and let Thanos see him do it. His actions were reckless.

And now. After that long and arduous journey, I come to Endgame. I’m going to make as much use of the recency effect as I can since it’s been a little over a week since I saw the film.

First off, we meet Thor in the initial stages of depression. He’s isolated himself from the remaining Avengers and isn’t really talking to anyone. Rather than join the others and talk things out, Thor chooses to ponder on his failure.

When they locate Thanos, Thor allows his arrogance to get the better of him once again. A pointless beheading sees Thor’s ego get a sliver of satisfaction now he’s achieved the goal he should have achieved at the end of Infinity War. The death of Thanos also left his teammates scrambling for a plan since their main source of information about the stones was now dead. Another reckless move.

Thor leaves it to the other, arguably, more capable Avengers to do all the leg work in coming up with a plan. In the succeeding five years, the throes of depression are in full swing when we meet Thor in New Asgard. The survivors of Ragnarok and Thanos’ attack are all getting on with things. Even Valkyrie seems settled working on the harbour.

Thor, however, is lost. His arrogance has cost him far more than just failure. It’s cost him his mind. If we look at every other member of the team, they have all lost in some way, shape of form but they dealt with it at the time, learned and moved on. Thor’s arrogance only served as a buffer for the tragedy to come and when it did, it hit hard.

The loss count is staggering compared to his fellow Avengers and he never dealt with it. He thought he was fine. He projected an air of confidence and invulnerability when, really, he needed to assess each loss as soon as he could and work through the feelings. In all three Iron Man films, Tony is brought down a few levels and is forced to work through his defeats over the course of each film. His neurotic paranoia and cynicism are what drive him to make use of his inventive engineering skills. With Steve Rogers, we see him question his morality each time he’s faced with more and more ambiguous circumstances. With Thor, we see a static visage of someone who believes himself untouchable and unbeatable even when clearly defeated.

On to the weight gain. First off, Thor has chosen to drink his responsibility away. That and leading a sedentary lifestyle will lead to a beer belly. It’s funny to see because Thor maintains his arrogance and thinks himself more relaxed now. He’s comfortable with how he is and so should the audience. It’s a big learning curve ahead for Thor and, having been in that position myself, it’s a daunting task to take on. More so since to bring a God down takes a whole lot more than it does for a tin man and a super soldier. Tony Stark got a battered ego and had many millions of dollars worth of material possessions destroyed and Steve Rogers lost his friend, a chance to be with Peggy and seventy-five years of life which he got back in Civil War and Endgame, respectively.

Thor lost his girlfriend, mother, father, hammer, friends, hair, an eye, his only sister, his home and half his people. Add on all the failures and betrayals and family revelations and you can only forgive Thor for being so arrogant. Would you want to know exactly how your father got to his esteemed position and that he used your sister as a weapon to do so? No, I didn’t think so. As benevolent as he may appear, Odin acted tyrannically and possibly manipulated Hela into winning his wars. The guilt and shame brought Odin to change his ways and present himself as the warm, loving but hard father we see throughout each Thor film.

The weight of all that knowledge more than justifies Thor’s transformation. It’s not fat shaming at all. This is extreme grief and depression kicking in. And the callouts about other Avengers picking on Thor? Nonsense. That’s how they’ve always been. Rocket got called ‘Furface’ by Captain Marvel and no one takes offense but Tony Stark calling Thor ‘Big Lebowski’ is somehow offensive rather than an accurate description that Thor does indeed look and act like ‘The Dude’. Wayward, carefree and so laid back that something like responsibility is impossible.

And when he does suit up, he’s not what he once was. The trouble with depression is that a person regresses into a state of near nothingness and they can’t be the person they need to be. When talking to his mother during the ‘Time Heist’, the shame and guilt of presenting himself to her is too much. He’s acutely aware of what he’s become. But it doesn’t matter to Frigga. He’s her son and she knows that for him to have plunged to such depths, he’d have to suffered a great deal. This comforts him as well as being able to share a few more moments with her. He cannot, however, face Jane. He’s no longer ‘god-like’ in his mind therefore he deems himself unimpressive to the woman who has been so easily impressed by him.

The final fight is where Thor doesn’t shine. He’s slow, cumbersome and no longer filled with the same sense of purpose and thirst for glory as his former self. Even with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, he struggles against a Thanos that has no Infinity Gauntlet. It’s understandable that Cap and Iron Man might struggle but Thor from Infinity War would have destroyed 2014 Thanos. Cap does more with Mjolnir than he does which only serves to highlight that not only is Cap’s conscience clear after Civil War but his intent is as well. Iron Man too, gives it his all even in his weakened state. He has a wife and child to protect now. Cap has the chance at a second life. And Thor? From what we’ve seen, Thor has very little going for him. He doesn’t fight like a protector of his people. He fights like he’s given up but here, his arrogance protects him. He keeps telling himself he’s the strongest and, in this case, it did enough to keep him alive albeit there was little conviction in his actions.

In the end, Thor did give up. With Thanos defeated and the loss of Natasha and Tony, he gave the power of ruler to Valkyrie in recognition that she is a leader and he is not. The arrogance and pride is all but gone at this point. He has admitted what he cannot do. He also admitted that he never found out who he is and by joining the (As)Guardians of the Galaxy, he’ll now have the support network he needs and deserves. It’s often the case that the best kind of support comes from those with a common element. With the Guardians, there are many. No real family; loss of family; sibling rivalries; trust issues; false confidence; abuse, I could go on.

In short, I hope we see Thor find peace in his travels with his new friends. I hope he can found out more about himself so that, come the next Avengers, we’ll see who he really is. He may have earned the title of Thor: God of Thunder at long last.